A Project Named BIL

Susan O’Connell grew up in the saltmarshes of Wells, long before they were part of the Wells Reserve. From a small house just uphill from the one bridge connecting nearby Drakes Island, she and her siblings ranged across the wetlands, forests, and fields. She clammed, canoed, caught eels, and even cross-country skied across the frozen marsh. She remembers when cows would get loose from nearby Laudholm Farm in the 1950s and wander over to her backyard to stare in the windows. 

When Susan inherited her childhood homestead, she promised to love it and protect it. When the opportunity arose to purchase an adjacent, larger property, which the conservation-minded neighbor had always hoped to sell to her, she jumped on the offer, though it was a stretch.

“Very soon after we bought the land,” she says, “a developer offered us $500,000 more than we’d paid, but we said no. We’re just so fortunate to have this land and keep it in the family. It’s a privilege to live in this location and pass it on to my children.”

Susan’s husband Charlie is proud of what they’ve done with their 20+ acres across their two parcels. They’ve restored the houses and barns, added trails, and maintained the lands. But a few years ago, while out in a kayak he’d launched from their backyard, Charlie noticed something troubling. Paddling under the causeway that separates the larger Webhannet saltmarsh from their property, Charlie saw that the bridge supports, built in 1938, were rotting. At the time, Charlie was the Assistant Harbormaster in Wells: he knew a thing or two about marine construction, and how it breaks down in a saltwater environment. “That bridge was in bad shape,” he told anyone who would listen.

Carol Murray, Director of Public Works for the Town of Wells, was one who listened. Having spent her life in infrastructure, she knew how to replace a bridge, especially one whose sudden failure would cut off access to 280 coastal homes and families. But Carol wasn’t sure where the funding would come from, or how to protect the fragile saltmarsh upstream of the project. She needed experts, and she knew that Jake Aman and Paul Dest at the nearby Wells Reserve were just that.

These citizens and landowners, project managers and scientists, formed a perfect team to catch some of the billions of dollars available from the Biden Administration’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

Paul’s expertise with with land conservation and NOAA construction and property acquisition grants, plus Jake’s decade of experience working on river and saltmarsh restoration projects, combined with Carol’s engineering acumen and Susan and Charlie’s desire to protect their marsh and save the bridge, were the keys that unlocked a $2.88 million BIL grant. Awarded earlier this year, the federal grant will completely fund this model project to repair crucial infrastructure and conserve and restore an important ecosystem.

The bridge to Drakes Island is now in the design process and, by 2027, will be rebuilt higher and wider (with an added bike lane). The Wells Reserve will soon purchase a conservation easement on the marsh and upland forest of Susan and Charlie’s property, protecting it from development in perpetuity and adding it to the reserve’s marshlands managed for restoration and research. This project will significantly increase the protected lands around the Wells Reserve, maintain vital habitat, and give this small northwestern corner of the Webhannet marsh system room to migrate. It will also maintain a connection to a treasured island community in Wells, even in the face of four feet of projected sea level rise by this century’s end. Way to go, team.

Reprinted with permission from the Wells Reserve.

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